


Arcadia

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [133]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Banter, F/M, Fake Marriage, Introspection, MSR, Missing Scene, UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-12 03:38:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7084090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This assignment was absurd, and he couldn’t see how it was an X-File, but it was still hilarious, the idea of them posing as a married couple in suburban Southern California. Especially given how often they were mistaken for a couple as it was. How did she not see the humor in that?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“You want us to do _what_?”

Mulder looked over at the shocked expression on his partner’s face, an expression he was carefully keeping from being mirrored on his own. He glanced at Skinner, who was apparently very interested in the papers on his desk all of a sudden.

“Because there is not as yet any definitive motive or explanation for the disappearances,” Skinner said lightly, “the case falls under the purview of this department. And since the conventional investigative techniques employed by local law enforcement have proven ineffective, it’s been decided that an undercover approach is the logical next step.”

“But sir--”

“This is the assignment, Agent Scully. You have 24 hours to make arrangements and get on a plane to California. Am I understood?”

“Well, yes sir, but… I’m just surprised that the FBI saw fit to buy an $850,000 house for this operation.”

“They didn’t.” Skinner looked up. “An arrangement was made between the bank and the local DA’s office. We have access to the house for two weeks, with the option to extend the occupation on the condition that it is warranted.” He looked pointedly at Mulder. “So no, the house doesn’t belong to the FBI. Let’s try to bear that in mind, shall we?”

“You hear that, Scully? Dad says no raging parties,” he deadpanned, and he was rewarded with one arched eyebrow.

“Agent Mulder--”

“Don't worry, sir. I'll keep her in check.” 

Skinner shook his head. “Right. Agent _Scully_ is the one I'm worried about,” he muttered, then cleared his throat. “You’ll coordinate with the San Diego field office. Any analysis that can't be performed on-site, you can run through them, but the bulk of the crime scene processing will have to be your responsibility, and done in a manner that won’t arouse the suspicion of the neighbors. To that end, you can requisition equipment from the field office as well. Put together a list of what you’ll need and call it in this afternoon.”

“Didn’t the local police already process the scene?” Scully asked, frowning.

“The hope, Agent Scully, is that you will find something they might have missed.” Skinner closed a file folder and handed it across his desk to Mulder. “I need these forms filled out and returned within the hour, in order to pull documents together establishing your cover identities. That’ll be all.”

Mulder stood, meeting Scully’s eyes and finding in them nothing matching his own amusement. This assignment was absurd, and he couldn’t see how it was an X-File, but it was still hilarious, the idea of them posing as a married couple in suburban Southern California. Especially given how often they were mistaken for a couple as it was. How did she not see the humor in that?

He led the way back out into the hall, then slowed enough for her to draw alongside him. “So what do you think? Ozzie and Harriet? Or should we be Ward and June? I think I see you as more of a Harriet than a June, but I don’t know if I can pull off Ozzie...”

“I’m a little more worried about equipment requisition than names right now,” she said, her voice clipped. “I think we should talk to someone in the lab and get their advice about what would be most useful to have.”

“Well, why don’t you go take care of that, and I’ll fill out the paperwork for Skinner. Divide and conquer.” 

She nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll coordinate with San Diego, and you handle the stuff related to our cover. Just… nothing too ridiculous, name-wise, all right?”

“You realize you’re talking to a guy named ‘Fox,’ right?”

An indelicate snort erupted from his normally-subdued partner. She shook her head, reaching out to press the elevator call button. Mulder grinned.

They got on the already-crowded elevator when it arrived, squeezing together into one corner. There was, Mulder realized, a bright side to this whole ridiculous assignment. As her partner, it would be weird if he pulled her back against him, or if he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and tucked her snugly into his side. Pretending to be Scully’s husband, however, could afford him all sorts of opportunities to give in to the impulses he ordinarily had to resist. It was perfectly acceptable, for example, for a man to tuck his wife’s hair behind her ears when it fell forward into her face. Or to reach out and take her hand for no reason whatsoever. 

Maybe there would even be a situation wherein the only way to salvage their cover was to kiss her. Convincingly.

The elevator doors opened again, and Scully turned to look up at him. “I’ll see you back in the office in an hour or so, all right?”

“You got it, honey.” Her eyes went wide, and he chuckled. “Just practicing. Gotta make sure we’re ready to play the part.”

She rolled her eyes, stepping off the elevator to head down to the lab. Mulder watched her walk away until the doors closed again. Yeah, he had a feeling he wasn’t going to mind this assignment so much, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scully is somewhat less than amused by their assignment.

_“Looks like whoever cleaned this place maybe missed a spot. That look like blood to you?”_  
_“Mm-hmm. How’d it get way up there?”_

As they fell into the groove of processing the scene, assuming familiar roles and letting their cover identities recede into the background, the tension in Scully’s shoulders began to loosen. When Mulder stepped away around 7:00 to call in a pizza order, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

There was a chance she would survive this case.

Of course, there was _also_ a chance she would spontaneously combust, if she had to endure two whole weeks of Mulder treating her like his wife.

The man was clearly either oblivious to the effect he had on her, or he was enjoying making her squirm. He seemed to think the assignment was a big joke, but as far as Scully was concerned, there was absolutely nothing funny about it.

Truth be told, when Skinner had sat them down the day before and briefed them on the case, her initial reaction had been sheer panic. Things worked between her and Mulder because of the boundaries inherent in their lives, both professional and personal. Posing as a married couple would necessitate the removal of at least some of those boundaries, and she wasn’t sure how to cope with that. It could be far too easy to give in to the charade entirely, to use the cover as an excuse to do all of the things with Mulder that she tried so desperately not to let herself want or even think about. He would go along with it, of course, with a grin and a wink, and maybe for a little while she could let herself pretend. 

Pretend that he wanted her the way she wanted him, a way that went beyond mere physical attraction or platonic affection. Pretend that he meant it when he flirted and made all manner of suggestive comments.

And all of that would be wonderful while it lasted, but then its absence would be doubly painful when the assignment was done and they went back to reality. It was a line she couldn't dare cross, if only because the letdown afterward would be excruciating.

“Did you know there’s a list of ‘approved’ takeout places you have to choose from if you want food delivered here?” Mulder came back into the room carrying a cookie and a glass of wine. At Scully’s raised eyebrows, he added, “That’s a very generous welcome basket we got. The cookies are still warm.”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to be drinking while we’re still processing the scene.”

Mulder shrugged. “We’re stopping for dinner anyway. Plus, I’m not sure how much more we’re going to find here, given how thoroughly this place was cleaned. C’mon, Laura, take a load off.”

He winked at her, and Scully took a step backward before turning to dig the alternate light source field kit out of their “china” box. “I’d, uh, like to check out the upstairs with ALS first. I’ll come back down when the food’s here.”

She turned and left the room before he could say anything else. Mulder’s accusation that she “just wanted to play house” couldn’t have been further from the truth. She’d had to do all manner of mental gymnastics to make peace with the undercover component of this investigation, to figure out how she was going to spend so much concentrated alone time with Mulder, away from the oversight of bosses or colleagues, when she increasingly found herself wanting to jump him. Especially if he was going to keep wearing things like polo shirts and khakis, biceps on display and the fitted pants nicely accentuating his--

She shook her head as if to physically stop herself from finishing the thought. Focus on the work, focus on the case; that was how she was going to get through it. She was a professional, for God’s sake.

With a frustrated sigh, Scully set the kit down and extracted the ALS and a pair of tinted goggles. She slipped the goggles over her eyes, switched on the light source, and turned off the hall light before beginning her examination of the upstairs rooms. She wasn’t sure that she actually expected to find anything, but it was important to check anyway. And besides, it gave her a reason to avoid the potentially-very-dangerous situation of sharing wine with Mulder while also sharing a house.

There were so many, many ways that combination could lead to her making an ass of herself.

There were, at least, plenty of bedrooms available in the place. They wouldn’t have to share a bed, thank God. They could flip a coin or something to see who got to sleep in the master bedroom. 

She immediately revised that thought when she walked into the large room and saw huge, dark splotches on the walls, revealed by the ALS. Neither one of them would be sleeping in there that night.

“Mulder?”

“Never heard of him,” his voice drifted up from downstairs.

She grimaced. “Okay _Rob_. I think you’d better come and take a look at this.”

She reached over to flip on the overhead lights and took off her goggles. Pristine eggshell-colored walls beamed back at her. When Mulder came through the doorway behind her, she wordlessly handed him the goggles, turning the lights back off and illuminating the wall with UV instead.

“ _Hel_ -lo,” Mulder said. “Is that blood?”

“Probably, though I can’t say for sure until we get a sample. _If_ we can get one. Whatever it is, it’s clearly been painted over, so it might be difficult to get an uncontaminated scraping.”

“Should be good enough to ID the substance though, right? Even if we can’t necessarily tie it to the Klines?”

“There’s a good chance, yes.” She turned the light on again and looked at her watch. “It’s already after ten in Washington. I’d better call and try to get approval if we want to take care of this tonight.”

“Approval to scrape a little paint off the walls?”

Scully shrugged. “Skinner was pretty clear with his expectations about avoiding damage to the house. I can’t imagine the request will be denied, but I’d rather not risk my paycheck on it, would you?”

The doorbell rang, interrupting whatever he’d been about to say in response. He raised his eyebrows. “That was fast.” He handed her the goggles. “Go ahead and make the call, and then let’s eat. We can take care of this after dinner.”

She nodded and pulled her cell phone from her pocket.

***

Hours later, Scully collapsed onto the bed in one of the spare rooms upstairs. She and Mulder had been reasonably successful in collecting evidence from the master bedroom, but she wanted to make one more pass through it in the morning, so for the night, they were both staying out of it. Mulder offered to take the futon in “his home office,” and she didn't argue, betting she would sleep much better in an actual bed in what was posing as their guest room.

She breathed in deeply, then let the air out completely and relaxed fully into the bed. She’d made it, survived day one as Mulder’s undercover wife. With any luck, they’d be able to wrap up this case in just a few days, rather than the two weeks they’d initially anticipated. 

A few days. She could handle that.

Rolling to her side, she closed her eyes and let the exhaustion from her long day wash over her, dragging her quickly into sleep.


End file.
